Google CEO Sundar Pichai is one of the most powerful people in the world and yet he is all but human. In a recent interview, he was asked when was the last time he cried and his answer is something to do with that has affected every individual in the world.
During a conversation with BBC's Amol Rajan, Pichai’s said he cried “seeing the morgue trucks parked around the world during COVID. And seeing what’s happened in India over the past month."
India witnessed the impact of the deadly Coronavirus pandemic in April and May this year that left thousands dead and lakhs gasping for breath.
Pichai, who was born in Tamil Nadu and raised in Chennai, has India deeply rooted in him. “I’m an American citizen but India is deeply within me. So it’s a big part of who I am," Pichai said.
The Google CEO said that growing up in a middle-class Indian family, technology had a great impact on him. During the course of the interview, he revealed technologies had a transformative impact on him, from the old rotary phone that they were on a waiting list for, to the scooter, they all piled on to for a monthly dinner.
“Growing up, technology provided a window to a world outside my own. It also brought us closer together as a family. Every evening we were drawn to the television by Doordarshan’s special rendition of ‘Sare Jahan Se Accha’. I tried to explain this to my colleagues the other day, but I eventually gave up and just showed it to them on YouTube," he said last year during an interview in July.
“When I was young, every new piece of technology brought new opportunities to learn and grow. But I always had to wait for it to arrive from someplace else. Today, people in India no longer have to wait for technology to come to you. A whole new generation of technologies are happening in India first," he added.
Pichai studied engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology, Chennai and holds a master’s degree from Stanford University and an MBA from the Wharton School.
